1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of lighting equipment and more particularly to light bars for use in emergency repair situations.
2. Prior Art
A search of prior art patents in the U.S. Patent Office revealed a number of patents related to lighting bars. The patents which were found were:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,165,562 (Mack, et al) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,852 (Bradley) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,929 (Barber) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,489 (Martin)
None of the patents showed the combination of a rectangular beam lamp and a round beam flood lamp to permit simultaneous remote and local illumination, which is particularly useful in emergency repair situations.
For example, when a utility, such as one providing natural gas for home heating purposes, receives an emergency call that requires replacing or repairing the gas or other meter, it is not infrequent that work must be done at night.
Under those conditions a repair truck with an appropriate number of service personnel is sent to the repair site. Before a replacement service can be installed, or while a service is being repaired, on-site, work must be done both at the building where the meter is and at the truck itself, where certain tools and a convenient working area are available. The source of illuminating power is the truck battery. It has limited storage capacity and the use of its stored energy must be efficient. Simply having one large light does not meet the requirements of efficiency and effective lighting of both sites. Two round beam flood lights, one aimed at the meter and the other at the truck work-site does not meet the requirement of efficient use of the stored electrical energy.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to overcome the limitations of the prior art device.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a lighting bar which permits simultaneous and efficient local and remote illumination, particularly for emergency repair situations.